FAQ/Contact Info

What is the best way to contact you?

Please send me an e-mail at madelynruth (at) gmail (dot) com. I’d love to hear from you! You can also find me on twitter at @madrosenberg and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/madelynrosenbergbooks.

What kind of writing do you do?

I always tell people I’m a one-trick pony, the trick being: I write. All kinds of stuff. I write stories for adults and stories for kids and stories for teens. I write stories for newspapers about engineers and strawberry farmers and murderers and musicians. I wrote a one-act play once, and it was performed in June 2012 by the Temple Players in Stratford, Conn. I have my definite favorite types of writing (kid-writing and music-writing being at the top of the list, along with stories about parenting). And I was doing a little medical writing for awhile, but I kept getting symptoms of whatever I was writing about, so I’m not sure I should take that up again.

Books can be purchased through your local book store (order if you don’t see them on the shelves) or at any number of online retailers. If you want a signed copy, you can order through One More Page Books, an independent book store not far from my house. They’ll have me sign a copy and then will mail it your way. I can also sign stickers that I can mail out and you can place one in your book.

Who is your favorite writer?

I have tons and I’ll list a few but it’s by no means a comprehensive list. Not even close. Growing up I loved Louise Fitzhugh, Chaim Potok, Sydney Taylor, Norton Juster (whom I just met for the first time at a reading), John D. Fitzgerald, Madeleine L’Engle and Tove Jansson. I love plenty of children’s authors who weren’t around when I was a kid, and yes, I do wish I’d gone to school at Hogwarts. In the adult world, I was interested in grad school at Boston University because Jumpha Lahiri went there. I also love Michael Chabon, Melissa Bank, Daniel Pinkwater and Geraldine Brooks. Some of my best friends from my newspaper days are incredible writers, notably Mary Crockett, Cece Bell, Tom Angleberger, Michael Hemphill and Ralph Berrier, Jr. We are linked by the mountains and rivers of Southwest Virginia, where I grew up and where most of them still are, lucky ducks. I’m hoping someday someone will call us The New River Writers and will let us do readings and maybe a little performance art. Ralph will play us a tune on the fiddle and we’ll all clap along.

My critique friends from over the years are seriously impressive. I admire their work, published or not, and I’m grateful for what they’ve done for my work. They include Wendy Shang!Alicia Potter!Jacqueline Jules! Moira Donohue! Mary Crockett! Laura Murray! Carla Heymsfield! Suzy McIntire! Molly Burnham! And while Dana Kletter wasn’t in my critique group in Boston, she probably should have been. And (since I have space here because this is The Internet) let me name check some of my SCBWI friends: Anne Marie Pace, Amy Brecount White, Kathy Erskine, Erica Perl and Sara Lewis Holmes, Meg Medina. Yay, Virginia! And now I’m going to get in trouble, because I’m sure I’m leaving people out.

I always knew I wanted to be a writer. I always thought I was going to have to be something else because I didn’t think I’d ever be able to make money at being a writer. When I discovered journalism in college, it was like a lightning bolt hit, but to everyone else it was sort of “No duh.” I made an amazing bunch of friends at my college newspaper. I’ve kept many of them. And yep, they write, too. For a long time, my only friends were writers and record store clerks.

Do you have advice for other writers?

Oh, tons. I’m one of those annoying people who tries to solve other people’s problems when I’m presented with them. I am trying to get curb that habit and only give advice when actually asked for it. Otherwise I’m just going to listen. Those of you who are asking can go to the “for writers” link you’ll find to your left. Everyone else can just read on and pretend I didn’t say anything.

Waitress at a place called The Sports Page (note that it still had a newspaper theme). It was the home of the Belly Buster Baked Potato. I was a horrible waitress, and the boss let me go half-way through the summer, but the potatoes were good. I spent the rest of high school working at Wendy’s.

Where did you go to school?

N.C. State for undergrad (English), Boston University for grad school (creative writing).

What would you be if you weren’t a writer?

My friend Ron always says I wish I’d invented the Pet Rock, which is about right. I have a list of inventions and schemes a mile long. Does schemer count as an answer? Idea person? Namer of things? And — although this one gets back to writing — I really wish I’d been one of the people who wrote 90210 screenplays (the first time). Oh, and the person who gets to name the colors on paint swatches. I could do that.

What are your new year’s resolutions?

I’m famous for making these (and failing to keep them), but my favorite one, which began when a very wise 5-year-old made it HIS resolution, was to do something I’d never done before. It’s a lot easier when you’re 5 than when you’re … whatever. I still make that resolution every year. And it’s one of the few that I actually keep.

If you have other questions, ask, and I’ll consider adding them to the end of my FAQ.